Apparatuses, methods, and storage medium for preventing a person from taking a dangerous selfie

ABSTRACT

A method for preventing a person from taking a dangerous selfie is executed by a mobile electronic apparatus including a multi-axis sensing device and an image acquisition device disposed on a surface of the mobile electronic apparatus. The method includes the following steps: using the image acquisition device operating in a shooting mode to capture an image of the person in a background; using the multi-axis sensing device to detect orientation information of the mobile electronic apparatus; determining whether the person is in a potentially dangerous environment according to the orientation information and the image; and enabling the image acquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode when the person is in the potentially dangerous environment.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims priority of Taiwan Application No. 106145980,filed on Dec. 27, 2017, and the entirety of which is incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE APPLICATION Field of the Application

The application relates generally to imaging applications or services,and more particularly, to apparatuses, methods, and storage medium forpreventing a person from taking a dangerous selfie.

Description of the Related Art

With the rapid development of imaging technology, most mobile electronicapparatuses are equipped with front cameras to allow the user to takeselfies. In a typical selfie scenario using a cellphone, the user mayoperate the cellphone either manually or using an assisting device(e.g., a selfie stick) to allow the front camera to face the user, andto take a picture of the user and/or the background. In addition, beforetaking the picture, the user may confirm the view of the front camera,which is displayed on the screen of the cellphone.

However, there are situations where accidents may occur in such selfiescenarios due to the user not noticing the dangerous environment behindhim or her while taking the selfie. For example, the user may be takinga selfie near a cliff in some scenic area, or near the edge of a highspot in a building, and then accidentally fall from the high place.Therefore, it is desirable to have a solution for detecting andpreventing dangerous selfies.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION

In one aspect of the application, a method for preventing a person fromtaking a dangerous selfie, executed by a mobile electronic apparatuscomprising a multi-axis sensing device and an image acquisition devicedisposed on a surface of the mobile electronic apparatus, is provided.The method comprises the following steps: using the image acquisitiondevice operating in a shooting mode to capture an image of the person ina background; using the multi-axis sensing device to detect orientationinformation of the mobile electronic apparatus; determining whether theperson is in a potentially dangerous environment according to theorientation information and the image; and enabling the imageacquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode when the personis in the potentially dangerous environment.

In another aspect of the application, a mobile electronic apparatuscomprising an image acquisition device, a multi-axis sensing device, anda controller is provided. The image acquisition device is disposed on asurface of the mobile electronic apparatus, and is configured to capturean image of a person in a background. The multi-axis sensing device isconfigured to detect orientation information of the mobile electronicapparatus. The controller is configured to determine whether the personis in a potentially dangerous environment according to the orientationinformation and the image, and enable the image acquisition device tosuspend or exit the shooting mode when the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment.

Other aspects and features of the application will become apparent tothose with ordinary skill in the art upon review of the followingdescriptions of specific embodiments of the method for preventing aperson from taking a dangerous selfie and the mobile electronicapparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The application can be more fully understood by reading the subsequentdetailed description and examples with references made to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the system architecture of amobile electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of theapplication;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the method for preventing a personfrom taking a dangerous selfie according to an embodiment of theapplication;

FIGS. 3A and 3B show a flow chart illustrating the method for preventinga person from taking a dangerous selfie according to another embodimentof the application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary orientation ofthe mobile electronic apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the determination of whetherthe person in the image is in a potentially dangerous environmentaccording to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 6A depicts an exemplary image captured by the image acquisitiondevice;

FIG. 6B depicts the distribution of the variations of grey scales of thepixels along the earth-line k;

FIG. 6C depicts another exemplary image captured by the imageacquisition device;

FIG. 6D depicts the distribution of the variations of grey scales of thepixels along the earth-line m; and

FIGS. 7A and 7B show a flow chart illustrating the method for preventinga person from taking a dangerous selfie according to yet anotherembodiment of the application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION

The following description is made for the purpose of illustrating thegeneral principles of the application and should not be taken in alimiting sense. It should be understood that the terms “comprises,”“comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the system architecture of amobile electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of theapplication. The mobile electronic apparatus 100 includes an imageacquisition device 10, a display device 20, a multi-axis sensing device30, a Global Positioning System (GSP) device 40, a controller 50, and astorage device 60. The image acquisition device 10, the display device20, the multi-axis sensing device 30, the GSP device 40, and the storagedevice 60 are coupled to the controller 50. In addition, the displaydevice 20 and the storage device 60 are coupled to the image acquisitiondevice 10.

The mobile electronic apparatus 100 may be a hand-held image or videocamera, a cellphone or smartphone, a panel Personal Computer (PC), orany computing device supporting the selfie function.

The image acquisition device 10 may support different operation modes.When operating in the shooting mode, the image acquisition device 10 maycapture images and support the function of digital zooming. Whenoperating in the protection mode, the image acquisition device 10 may besuspended from capturing images, to protect the user from injury due totaking a selfie. The image acquisition device 10 may include one or moreoptics, such as see-through lens, and/or image sensors. In oneembodiment, the mobile electronic apparatus 100 may be a smartphone, andthe image acquisition device 10 may include the front camera and/or theback camera of the smartphone. In another embodiment, the imageacquisition device 10 may include a three-dimensional (3D) camera whichmay be configured to capture images and obtain the depth information ofthe objects in the captured images (i.e., the distance from the mobileelectronic apparatus 100 to the objects). The images captured by theimage acquisition device 10 may be sent to the display device 20 fordisplay, or may be sent to the controller 50 to be forwarded to thedisplay device 20, or may be sent to the storage device 60 to be storedtherein.

The display device 20 is responsible for displaying visual contentand/or texts, such as the images captured by the image acquisitiondevice 10. The display device 20 may be a Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD),Light-Emitting Diode (LED) display, Organic LED (OLED) display,Electronic Paper Display (EPD), or Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display, etc.In one embodiment, the display device 20 may further include one or moretouch sensors disposed thereon or thereunder for sensing touches,contacts, or approximations of objects, such as fingers or styluses,enabling the display device 20 to serve as an input device.

In one embodiment, both the image acquisition device 10 and the displaydevice 20 may be disposed on the front surface of the mobile electronicapparatus 100 (e.g., the surface on which the user operates asmartphone).

In another embodiment, the image acquisition device 10 and the displaydevice 20 may be disposed on different surfaces of the mobile electronicapparatus 100. For example, the image acquisition device 10 may bedisposed on the back surface of the mobile electronic apparatus 100, andthe display device 20 may be disposed on the front surface of the mobileelectronic apparatus 100, wherein the display device 20 may be adheredto a mechanical structure which may move the display device 20 to facethe same direction as the image acquisition device 10 does. For example,the display device 20 may be a revolvable screen.

The multi-axis sensing device 30 may include one or more types ofsensor(s), such as an acceleration sensor, a magneto sensor (also calledan electrical compass), a gyroscope sensor, and/or an altitude sensor.The acceleration sensor may be used to detect the acceleration of themobile electronic apparatus 100. The magneto sensor may be used todetect changes in the magnetic field. The gyroscope sensor may be usedto detect the angular velocity of the mobile electronic apparatus 100.The altitude sensor may be used to detect the horizontal height of themobile electronic apparatus 100. Based on the detection result providedby the multi-axis sensing device 30, the orientation, including thespatial position, and the dip angle (i.e., the angle that the frontsurface of the mobile electronic apparatus 100 is facing relative to thehorizontal line), and the horizontal height of the mobile electronicapparatus 100 may be determined.

The GPS device 40 is responsible for providing the positioning function.Specifically, the GPS device 40 may provide the 2D or 3D location (e.g.,longitude and latitude information) of the mobile electronic apparatus100 through communications with one or more satellites.

The controller 50 may be a general-purpose processor, Micro-Control Unit(MCU), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Application Processor (AP), orany combination thereof, which includes various circuits for providingthe function of data and image processing/computing, receiving imagedata from the image acquisition device 10, receiving detection resultfrom the multi-axis sensing device 30 and the GPS device 40, and storingand retrieving data to and from the storage device 60. In particular,the controller 50 coordinates the image acquisition device 10, thedisplay device 20, the multi-axis sensing device 30, the GSP device 40,and the storage device 60 for performing the method for preventing aperson from taking a dangerous selfie.

As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art, the circuits inthe controller 50 will typically comprise transistors that areconfigured in such a way as to control the operation of the circuitry inaccordance with the functions and operations described herein. As willbe further appreciated, the specific structure or interconnections ofthe transistors will typically be determined by a compiler, such as aRegister Transfer Language (RTL) compiler. RTL compilers may be operatedby a processor upon scripts that closely resemble assembly languagecode, to compile the script into a form that is used for the layout orfabrication of the ultimate circuitry. Indeed, RTL is well known for itsrole and use in the facilitation of the design process of electronic anddigital systems.

The storage device 60 is a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, including a memory, such as a FLASH memory or a Non-volatileRandom Access Memory (NVRAM), or a magnetic storage device, such as ahard disk or a magnetic tape, or an optical disc, or any combinationthereof for storing image data and instructions or program code ofcommunication protocols, applications, and/or the method for preventinga person from taking a dangerous selfie.

The I/O device 60 may include one or more buttons, a keyboard, a mouse,a touch pad, a microphone, a speaker, and/or a light device, etc.,serving as the Man-Machine Interface (MMI) for receiving user inputsand/or outputting prompt/feedback signals.

It should be understood that the components described in the embodimentof FIG. 1 are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended tolimit the scope of the application. For example, the mobile electronicapparatus 100 may include additional components, such as an Input/Output(I/O) device, a power supply, and/or a wireless communication device.The I/O device may include one or more buttons, a keyboard, a mouse, atouch pad, a microphone, a speaker, and/or a light device, etc., servingas the Man-Machine Interface (MMI) for receiving user inputs and/oroutputting prompt/feedback signals. The power supply may be amobile/replaceable battery providing power to all the other componentsof the mobile electronic apparatus 100. The wireless communicationdevice may provide the function of wireless communications to receivewireless signals (e.g., a wireless signal for controlling the imageacquisition device 10 to capture image, a broadcast signal indicatingthat the current environment is dangerous), using a wireless technology,such as the Bluetooth technology, Wireless-Fidelity (WiFi) technology,Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GlobalEvolution (EDGE) technology, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access(WCDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000)technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access(TD-SCDMA) technology, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX) technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, Time-DivisionLTE (TD-LTE) technology, and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology, etc.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the method for preventing a personfrom taking a dangerous selfie according to an embodiment of theapplication. In this embodiment, the method is applied to a mobileelectronic apparatus capable of taking pictures, such as the mobileelectronic apparatus 100, which at least includes an image acquisitiondevice (e.g., image acquisition device 10) disposed on a surface (e.g.,the front surface or back surface of the mobile electronic apparatus100), and a multi-axis sensing device (e.g., the multi-axis sensingdevice 30).

To further clarify, the method may be implemented as a software module(e.g., an APP) consisting of program code which may be loaded andexecuted by a controller (e.g., the controller 50) of the mobileelectronic apparatus.

To begin with, the mobile electronic apparatus uses the imageacquisition device operating in the shooting mode to capture an image ofa person in a background (step S210). In one embodiment, the mobileelectronic apparatus may be a smartphone or a panel PC, the imageacquisition device may refer to the front camera, and the shooting modemay refer to the selfie mode. In another embodiment, the mobileelectronic apparatus may be a hand-held image or video camera, in whichthe screen may be operable to be revolved to face the same direction asthe camera does.

Next, the mobile electronic apparatus uses the multi-axis sensing deviceto detect the orientation information of the mobile electronic apparatus(step S220). Specifically, the movements (e.g., a shift or rotation) ofthe mobile electronic apparatus cause changes in the orientation of themobile electronic apparatus, wherein the orientation may be construed asthe result of the mobile electronic apparatus rotating over the z-axis(e.g., the vertical axis pointing to the earth's core), y-axis (e.g.,the eastern axis pointing to the geographical east), and x-axis (e.g.,the northern axis pointing to the geographical north) in a coordinatesystem (e.g., the North East Down (NED) system). The rotation angle overthe z-axis may be defined as the yaw angle ψ, the rotation angle overthe y-axis may be defined as the pitch angle θ, and the rotation angleover the x-axis may be defined as the roll angle ϕ. The yaw angle ψ, thepitch angle θ, and the roll angle ϕ may be determined according to theacceleration, the changes in the magnetic field, and the angularvelocity detected by the multi-axis sensing device, and may be furtherused to determine the orientation, including the spatial position andthe dip angle, of the mobile electronic apparatus. Please note that thedetailed descriptions of the orientation determination are omittedherein since they are beyond the scope of the application.

Subsequent to step S220, the mobile electronic apparatus determineswhether the person is in a potentially dangerous environment accordingto the orientation information detected by the multi-axis sensing deviceand the image captured by the image acquisition device (step S230). Thepotentially dangerous environment may include a cliff, a seashore, orthe edge of a high spot in a building. The details of step S230 will bedescribed later in FIGS. 5 and 6A-6D.

After that, the mobile electronic apparatus enables the imageacquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode when the personis in the potentially dangerous environment (step S240). The suspensionor exit of the shooting mode may prevent the person from taking selfies,by enabling the image acquisition device to enter the protection mode,or by suspending/deactivating the image acquisition device. Taking themobile electronic apparatus being a smartphone as an example, thesuspension or exit of the shooting mode may include deactivating theimage acquisition device and returning the smartphone to the desktopview.

Subsequent to step 230, if it is determined that the person is not in apotentially dangerous environment, no action is performed and the methodends.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show a flow chart illustrating the method for preventinga person from taking a dangerous selfie according to another embodimentof the application. In this embodiment, the method is applied to amobile electronic apparatus capable of taking pictures, such as themobile electronic apparatus 100, which at least includes an imageacquisition device (e.g., image acquisition device 10) disposed on asurface (e.g., the front surface or back surface of the mobileelectronic apparatus 100), and a multi-axis sensing device (e.g., themulti-axis sensing device 30).

To further clarify, the method may be implemented as a software module(e.g., an APP) consisting of program code which may be loaded andexecuted by a controller (e.g., the controller 50) of the mobileelectronic apparatus.

To begin with, the mobile electronic apparatus determines whether theimage acquisition device has entered the shooting mode (step S310). Inone embodiment, the mobile electronic apparatus is a smartphone or panelPC, and it may determine whether the image acquisition device hasentered the shooting mode by checking if the front camera or back camerais activated or not. Generally speaking, the shooting mode may also bereferred to as the selfie mode when the front camera is activated.Alternatively, when the back camera is activated, it may also be usedfor taking selfies with the use of an assistive device (e.g., a shutterremote control). In another embodiment, the mobile electronic apparatusis a hand-held image or video camera with a revolvable screen, and itmay determine whether the image acquisition device has entered theshooting mode by checking if the revolvable screen is manually switchedto face the same direction as the camera does.

Subsequent to step S310, if the image acquisition device has entered theshooting mode, the mobile electronic apparatus determines itsorientation according to the detection result obtained from themulti-axis sensing device (step S320). The detailed descriptionregarding the orientation information of the mobile electronic apparatusis similar to step S220 in the embodiment of FIG. 2, and thus, it isomitted herein for brevity.

Subsequent to step 310, if the image acquisition device has not enteredthe shooting mode, no action is performed and the method ends.

Subsequent to step 320, the mobile electronic apparatus determineswhether its orientation indicates that the surface on which the imageacquisition device is disposed tilts down at a dip angle (i.e., thesurface is facing a predetermined direction at a dip angle) (step S330).For example, the mobile electronic apparatus may be a smartphone and thesurface may be the front surface where the screen is disposed. In apreferred embodiment, the surface tilting down at a dip angle maysuggest that the person (e.g., the user of the mobile electronicapparatus) is taking a selfie. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagramillustrating an exemplary orientation of the mobile electronicapparatus. As shown in FIG. 4, the mobile electronic apparatus is asmartphone, and the dip angle is defined using the horizontal line(denoted as h) as the reference. Specifically, the dip angle refers tothe angle (denoted as θ) that the screen (i.e., the front surface) ofthe smartphone is facing (denoted with the axis p) relative to thehorizontal line.

Subsequent to step S330, if the surface on which the image acquisitiondevice is disposed does not tilt down at a dip angle, the method ends.

Subsequent to step S330, if the surface on which the image acquisitiondevice is disposed tilts down at a dip angle, the mobile electronicapparatus determines whether the person is in a potentially dangerousenvironment (e.g., a cliff, or the edge of a high spot in a building)according to the orientation information detected by the multi-axissensing device and the image captured by the image acquisition device(step S340). The details of step S340 will be described later in FIGS. 5and 6A-6D.

Subsequent to step S340, if the person is in a potentially dangerousenvironment, the mobile electronic apparatus enables the imageacquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode (step S350), andthe method ends. The suspension or exit of the shooting mode may preventthe person from taking selfies, by enabling the image acquisition deviceto enter the protection mode, or by suspending/deactivating the imageacquisition device. Taking the mobile electronic apparatus being asmartphone as an example, the suspension or exit of the shooting modemay include deactivating the image acquisition device and returning thesmartphone to the desktop view.

Subsequent to step 340, if the person is not in a potentially dangerousenvironment, no action is performed and the method ends.

In another embodiment, a new step may be included subsequent to stepS350 in FIG. 3B, wherein the new step is to ignore any wireless signalrequesting control over the image acquisition device, so as to preventthe person from taking a selfie through wireless access.

In another embodiment, a new step may be inserted between steps S330 andS340 in FIG. 3B, wherein the new step is to identify if a human faceappears in the image, and if so, the method proceeds to step S340, andif not, the method ends. That is, the step of human face identificationis performed to further confirm if the person is really taking a selfie.

It should be understood that both the new step of ignoring wirelesscontrol signals and the new step of human face identification may beadded to the embodiment of FIGS. 3A and 3B.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the determination of whetherthe person in the image is in a potentially dangerous environmentaccording to an embodiment of the application. Firstly, the spatialposition and the dip angle of the mobile electronic apparatus are firstdetermined based on the detection result obtained from the multi-axissensing device. Secondly, the skyline and earth-line in the image aredetermined according to the spatial position and the dip angle. Thirdly,the change in height of a background object in the image, which is theresult of movement of the mobile electronic apparatus, is analyzed.Lastly, the distance from the background object to the mobile electronicapparatus is calculated according to the information regarding thechange in height of the background object in the image and the movementof the mobile electronic apparatus.

In this embodiment, the height of the background object (e.g., a tree)is denoted as H, and the mobile electronic apparatus is depicted as ahand-held image camera. As shown in FIG. 5, before the mobile electronicapparatus is moved, the distance from the background object to thecamera is denoted as L, the distance from the camera to the formattedimage is denoted as q, and the height of the background object in theimage is denoted as n. After the mobile electronic apparatus is moved tothe right horizontally with a distance l, the distance from thebackground object to the camera becomes L′, and the height of thebackground object in the image becomes n′.

According to the lens formula, the lens magnification ratio M may berepresented as

${M = {\frac{n}{N} = \frac{q}{L}}},$

and the distance L may be derived from this mathematical relation, asfollows.

$n = {\frac{q}{L} \times N}$$n^{\prime} = {{\frac{q}{L^{\prime}}N} = {\frac{q}{L + 1}N}}$$\frac{n}{n^{\prime}} = {\frac{L + 1}{L} = {1 - \frac{l}{L}}}$$L = \frac{l}{1 - \frac{n}{n^{\prime}}}$

The distance l may be obtained from the detection result provided by themulti-axis sensing device, and the image heights n and n′ may beobtained from the number of pixels of the background object in theimage. Accordingly, the distance L may be calculated.

Likewise, the distance D from the person (assuming there is a person infront of the camera) to the camera may be determined. Subsequently, itmay be determined whether the distance from the background object to theperson is greater than a predetermined threshold according to thedistances L and D. If the distance from the background object to theperson is greater than the predetermined threshold, it may be determinedthat the person is in a potentially dangerous environment. In oneembodiment, the predetermined threshold may be 10 meters.

FIGS. 6A to 6D are schematic diagrams illustrating the determination ofwhether the person in the image is in a potentially dangerousenvironment according to an embodiment of the application. Firstly, thespatial position and the dip angle of the mobile electronic apparatusare first determined based on the detection result obtained from themulti-axis sensing device. Secondly, the skyline and earth-line in theimage are determined according to the spatial position and the dipangle. Lastly, the variations of grey scales of the pixels along theskyline or earth-line are analyzed.

FIG. 6A depicts an exemplary image captured by the image acquisitiondevice. As shown in FIG. 6A, the earth-line k in the image isdetermined. FIG. 6B depicts the distribution of the variations of greyscales of the pixels along the earth-line k. As shown in FIG. 6B, greyscales fluctuate intensely, wherein each variation of grey scales mayrepresent a common border of objects in the background, and a highervariation may indicate a more complicated composition of objects in thebackground. Generally, an image taken from a higher ground may covermore objects in the background, and thus, may have more drasticvariations of grey scales. Therefore, when the variations of grey scalesof the pixels along the earth-line are drastic, it may be determinedthat the image was taken from a high ground and that the person is in apotentially dangerous environment.

Specifically, within the pixels 0˜100, there are 28 crests and troughsformed by the grey-scale variation over 50. Within the pixels 10˜200,there are 14 crests and troughs formed by the grey-scale variation over50. Within the pixels 20˜300, there are 13 crests and troughs formed bythe grey-scale variation over 50. Overall, the average number of crestsand troughs within every 100 pixels is greater than 5, and thus, it maybe determined that the person is in a potentially dangerous environment.

FIG. 6C depicts another exemplary image captured by the imageacquisition device. As shown in FIG. 6C, the earth-line m in the imageis determined.

FIG. 6D depicts the distribution of the variations of grey scales of thepixels along the earth-line m. As shown in FIG. 6D, grey scalesfluctuate less intensely, when compared to FIG. 6B. Overall, the averagenumber of crests and troughs within every 100 pixels is less than 5, andthus, it may be determined that the person is not in a potentiallydangerous environment.

It should be understood that the threshold value 5 described in theembodiments of FIGS. 6A˜6D is for illustrative purposes only and is notintended to limit the scope of the application.

FIGS. 7A and 7B show a flow chart illustrating the method for preventinga person from taking a dangerous selfie according to yet anotherembodiment of the application. In this embodiment, the method is appliedto a mobile electronic apparatus capable of taking pictures, such as themobile electronic apparatus 100, which at least includes an imageacquisition device (e.g., image acquisition device 10) disposed on asurface (e.g., the front surface or back surface of the mobileelectronic apparatus 100), and a multi-axis sensing device (e.g., themulti-axis sensing device 30).

To further clarify, the method may be implemented as a software module(e.g., an APP) consisting of program code which may be loaded andexecuted by a controller (e.g., the controller 50) of the mobileelectronic apparatus.

To begin with, the mobile electronic apparatus determines whether theimage acquisition device has entered the shooting mode (step S710). Inone embodiment, the mobile electronic apparatus is a smartphone or panelPC, and it may determine whether the image acquisition device hasentered the shooting mode by checking if the front camera or back camerais activated or not. Generally speaking, the shooting mode may also bereferred to as the selfie mode when the front camera is activated.Alternatively, when the back camera is activated, it may also be usedfor taking selfies with the use of an assistive device (e.g., a shutterremote control). In another embodiment, the mobile electronic apparatusis a hand-held image or video camera with a revolvable screen, and itmay determine whether the image acquisition device has entered theshooting mode by checking if the revolvable screen is manually switchedto face the same direction as the camera does.

Subsequent to step S710, if the image acquisition device has entered theshooting mode, the mobile electronic apparatus uses the GPS device toobtain its location (step S720). Otherwise, if the image acquisitiondevice has not entered the shooting mode, the method ends.

Subsequent to step S720, the mobile electronic apparatus determines thealtitude corresponding to its location according to the geographicmapping information (step S730), and then uses the multi-axis sensingdevice (e.g., the altitude sensor within the multi-axis sensing device)to detect its horizontal height (step S740).

Subsequent to step S730, the mobile electronic apparatus determineswhether the difference between its horizontal height and the altitude isgreater than a predetermined threshold (step S750), and if not, themethod ends. In one embodiment, the predetermined threshold may be 10meters but not limited thereto.

Subsequent to step S750, if the difference is greater than apredetermined threshold, it may be determined that the person in theimage is in a building at that location, and the mobile electronicapparatus uses the multi-axis sensing device to detect the orientationinformation (step S760).

Subsequent to step S760, the mobile electronic apparatus determineswhether the orientation information indicates that a specific surface(e.g., the surface on which the image acquisition device is disposed) ofthe mobile electronic apparatus tilts down at a dip angle (i.e., thesurface is facing a predetermined direction at a dip angle) (step S770).For example, the mobile electronic apparatus may be a smartphone and thesurface may be the front surface where the screen is disposed. In apreferred embodiment, the surface tilting down at a dip angle maysuggest that the person (e.g., the user of the mobile electronicapparatus) is taking a selfie, as shown in FIG. 4.

Subsequent to step S770, if the surface does not tilt down at a dipangle, the method ends.

Subsequent to step S770, if the surface tilts down at a dip angle, themobile electronic apparatus determines whether the person is in apotentially dangerous environment (e.g., a cliff, or the edge of a highspot of a building) according to the orientation information detected bythe multi-axis sensing device and the image captured by the imageacquisition device (step S780). The reference regarding detaileddescription of step S780 may be made to the embodiments of FIGS. 5 and6A˜6D as mentioned above.

Subsequent to step S780, if the person is in a potentially dangerousenvironment, the mobile electronic apparatus enables the imageacquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode (step S790), andthe method ends. The suspension or exit of the shooting mode may preventthe person from taking selfies, by enabling the image acquisition deviceto enter the protection mode, or by suspending/deactivating the imageacquisition device. Taking the mobile electronic apparatus being asmartphone as an example, the suspension or exit of the shooting modemay include deactivating the image acquisition device and returning thesmartphone to the desktop view.

Subsequent to step 780, if the person is not in a potentially dangerousenvironment, the method ends.

In another embodiment, a wireless station may be disposed in a certainarea (e.g., a high-floor observation deck) within a building tobroadcast a wireless signal indicating that the coverage area of thewireless signal is dangerous, and a new step may be included subsequentto the ‘YES’ branch of step S780 in FIG. 7B, wherein the new step isperformed to check whether such a broadcast signal has been received,and if so, step S790 is performed. Otherwise, if such a broadcast signalhas not been received, it may suggest that the person is in a safe area(e.g., indoors) on the high floor of the building, and step S790 may notbe performed.

In another embodiment, a new step may be included subsequent to stepS790 in FIG. 7B, wherein the new step is to ignore any wireless signalrequesting control over the image acquisition device, so as to preventthe person from taking a selfie through wireless access.

In another embodiment, a new step may be inserted between steps S770 andS780 in FIG. 7B, wherein the new step is to identify if a human faceappears in the image, and if so, the method proceeds to step S780, andif not, the method ends. That is, the step of human face identificationis performed to further confirm if the person is really taking a selfie.

It should be understood that both the new step of ignoring wirelesscontrol signals and the new step of human face identification may beadded to the embodiment of FIGS. 7A and 7B.

In view of the forgoing embodiments, it will be appreciated that thepresent application may prevent the user of a mobile electronicapparatus from taking dangerous selfies, by detecting whether the userin the captured image is in a potentially dangerous environmentaccording to the image acquisition device, the multi-axis sensingdevice, and/or the positioning device of the mobile electronicapparatus, and enabling the image acquisition device to suspend or exitthe shooting mode. Advantageously, accidents caused by taking dangerousselfies may be avoided.

While the application has been described by way of example and in termsof preferred embodiment, it should be understood that the applicationcannot be limited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology canstill make various alterations and modifications without departing fromthe scope and spirit of this application. Therefore, the scope of thepresent application shall be defined and protected by the followingclaims and their equivalents.

Note that use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, etc., in theclaims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote anypriority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or thetemporal order in which acts of the method are performed, but are usedmerely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain namefrom another element having the same name (except for use of ordinalterms), to distinguish the claim elements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for preventing a person from taking adangerous selfie, executed by a mobile electronic apparatus comprising amulti-axis sensing device and an image acquisition device disposed on asurface of the mobile electronic apparatus, the method comprising: usingthe image acquisition device operating in a shooting mode to capture animage of the person in a background; using the multi-axis sensing deviceto detect orientation information of the mobile electronic apparatus;determining whether the person is in a potentially dangerous environmentaccording to the orientation information and the image; and enabling theimage acquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode when theperson is in the potentially dangerous environment.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining whether the surface is facing apredetermined direction at a dip angle according to the orientationinformation; wherein the determination of whether the person is in thepotentially dangerous environment is performed when the surface isfacing the predetermined direction at the dip angle.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the determining of whether the person is in thepotentially dangerous environment further comprises: determining a firstdistance from the image acquisition device to the person and a seconddistance from the image acquisition device to the background;determining whether a difference between the first distance and thesecond distance is greater than a predetermined threshold; anddetermining that the person is in the potentially dangerous environmentwhen the difference is greater than the predetermined threshold.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the person is inthe potentially dangerous environment further comprises: determining abase line in the image according to the orientation information; anddetermining whether the person is in the potentially dangerousenvironment according to variations of grey scales of pixels along thebase line in the image.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:detecting a location of the mobile electronic apparatus; detecting ahorizontal height of the mobile electronic apparatus; determining analtitude corresponding to the location according to geographic mappinginformation; and determining whether a difference between the horizontalheight and the altitude is greater than a predetermined threshold;wherein the determining of whether the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment is performed when the difference is greater thanthe predetermined threshold.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining whether a wireless signal is received indicatingthat a coverage area of the wireless signal is dangerous, when theperson is in the potentially dangerous environment; wherein the imageacquisition device is enabled to suspend or exit the shooting mode whenthe wireless signal is received.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a wireless signal which requests control over theimage acquisition device; and ignoring the wireless signal when theperson is in the potentially dangerous environment.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining whether a human face isidentified in the image; wherein the determination of whether the personis in the potentially dangerous environment is performed when the humanface is identified in the image.
 9. A mobile electronic apparatus,comprising: an image acquisition device, disposed on a surface of themobile electronic apparatus, and configured to capture an image of aperson in a background; a multi-axis sensing device, configured todetect orientation information of the mobile electronic apparatus; and acontroller, configured to determine whether the person is in apotentially dangerous environment according to the orientationinformation and the image, and enable the image acquisition device tosuspend or exit the shooting mode when the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment.
 10. The mobile electronic apparatus of claim 9,wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether thesurface is facing a predetermined direction at a dip angle according tothe orientation information, and the determining of whether the personis in the potentially dangerous environment is performed when thesurface is facing the predetermined direction at the dip angle.
 11. Themobile electronic apparatus of claim 9, wherein the determining ofwhether the person is in the potentially dangerous environment furthercomprises: determining a first distance from the image acquisitiondevice to the person and a second distance from the image acquisitiondevice to the background; determining whether a difference between thefirst distance and the second distance is greater than a predeterminedthreshold; and determining that the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment when the difference is greater than thepredetermined threshold.
 12. The mobile electronic apparatus of claim 9,wherein the determining of whether the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment further comprises: determining a base line in theimage according to the orientation information; and determining whetherthe person is in the potentially dangerous environment according tovariations of grey scales of pixels along the base line in the image.13. The mobile electronic apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: apositioning device, configured to detect a location of the mobileelectronic apparatus; wherein the multi-axis sensing device is furtherconfigured to detect a horizontal height of the mobile electronicapparatus; wherein the controller is further configured to determine analtitude corresponding to the location according to geographic mappinginformation, and determine whether a difference between the horizontalheight and the altitude is greater than a predetermined threshold; andwherein the determining of whether the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment is performed when the difference is greater thanthe predetermined threshold.
 14. The mobile electronic apparatus ofclaim 9, further comprising: a wireless communication device, configuredto receive a wireless signal; wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to determine whether the wireless signal indicates that acoverage area of the wireless signal is dangerous, when the person is inthe potentially dangerous environment; and wherein the image acquisitiondevice is enabled to suspend or exit the shooting mode when the wirelesssignal indicates that the coverage area of the wireless signal isdangerous.
 15. The mobile electronic apparatus of claim 9, furthercomprising: a wireless communication device, configured to receive awireless signal; wherein the controller is further configured todetermine whether the wireless signal requests control over the imageacquisition device when the person is in the potentially dangerousenvironment, and ignore the wireless signal when the wireless signalrequests control over the image acquisition device.
 16. The mobileelectronic apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to determine whether a human face is identified in the image,and the determining of whether the person is in the potentiallydangerous environment is performed when the human face is identified inthe image.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumcomprising computer program which, when executed, causes a mobileelectronic apparatus comprising a multi-axis sensing device and an imageacquisition device disposed on a surface of the mobile electronicapparatus to perform a method for preventing a person from taking adangerous selfie, wherein the method comprises: using the imageacquisition device operating in a shooting mode to capture an image ofthe person in a background; using the multi-axis sensing device todetect orientation information of the mobile electronic apparatus;determining whether the person is in a potentially dangerous environmentaccording to the orientation information and the image; and enabling theimage acquisition device to suspend or exit the shooting mode, when theperson is in the potentially dangerous environment.